Jens_T's Profile

Forgot to mention iTunes. Come on, does anyone believe that Linux-users would actually [i]pay[/i] for DRM-encumbered music in a proprietary format?

James, all sarcasm aside, I fail to see how providing technologies that are missing from Linux to the the Penguin crowd would entice them to go out and buy a Mac. Really, most of the stories of the Linus-to-Mac-switchers center around on being fed up with the GUI-mess [i]and the abysmal multimedia support[/i] on Linux. If iTunes, Quicktime et al [i]suddenly worked[/i] on their beige boxes, [i]why[/i] would they switch? It's the [i]absence[/i] of those features that drives people to the Mac.

Then again, the "greatest commercial ever" didn't feature a tangible product either ...

It doesn’t matter. Apple could do everything MS did with browsers and it would be okay. Users might not like it, but it would not be illegal or an abuse of monopoly power as it was with Windows. And the proof for this unfounded assumption is ... where? OS X requires you to set the default browser from inside Safari, how’s that for being tied deeply to the OS? That's pretty good, considering that with two clicks you can use Camino and never have to worry about Safari again. Actually, you could just delete Safari and use whatever other browser you want. Try that with IE. WMA works for Macs. It does? Go to http://www.npgmusicclub.com and try to purchase "Musicology" for your Mac. Good luck!

HP sells computers compelling enough that people actually purchase them, as does Dell. Hence it is reasonable to believe that Apple should be able to produce computers with hardware compelling enough that people will choose them over competing models. Ahem ... Dell sells computers with margins somewhere in the single digit area. They can only compensate for this by sheer volume. Do you really think it is feasable for Apple with their current market share (halo-effect or not) to go that route?

Although the prospect you lay out is most heartwarming for any serious Mac-zealot like me, there are IMHO several things wrong with your reasoning, the most serious error being the idea that Intel might actually develop a custom chip exclusevly for Apple. If I remember correctly, Apple got a (more or less) competitive price for the relatively few PPC-chips they ordered from IBM and Moto because they actually owned part of the design, back from the old AIM-days. This price-advantadge doesn't exists in their new relationship with Intel and will have to be compensated by the fact that they can order already designed off-the-shelf components at volume discounts (by agreeing to go exclusively with Intel-chips). Now, even IF Intel was willing to do it, how much would Apple have to pay for a custom-designed chip that (for a foreseeable time) NOBODY ELSE would use? Probably enough to send the next G6 PowerMac back into the $5000 price segment. And that's where Aplle doesn't want to be these days, right?